Saturday, November 6, 2010

11/06/2010
Apparently, there is someone else who makes the decisions in Malacañang and whatever Noynoy Aquino decides on may even be overturned.

In an ABS-CBN exclusive interview with Noynoy Thursday, he bared plans of removing DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo from his post, with him stating clearly that Robredo will be transferred to another agency having something to do with informal settlers, the more polite term for squatters, that will be created especially for Robredo.

As Noynoy put it: among his three acting secretaries, his Labor aide, Rosalinda Baldoz will be made permanent; his Environment secretary, Ramon Paje, will still be on an acting status and will stay in his post for a year, or until June 30, 2011. As for his DILG secretary, Noynoy said he may be out of that post soon and that he may move him to another agency.

As Noynoy stated, Robredo is doing a good job but that he wants a specific program fast-tracked, something similar to the problem of informal settlers, which he said is really Robredo’s expertise..... MORE

11/06/2010
Irked by at least six foreign government’s travel advisory against the Philippines, Noynoy slammed these warnings, saying that these foreign governments had not bothered to inform the Philippine government about such threats and that the intelligence reports he gets from his security officials say there are no serious threats, and that all reports are raw and unverified.

In almost the same breath, however, Noynoy bared that there are assassination plots against two foreign ambassadors, along with several security officers, all of whom, however, remained unnamed. He said this is based on reports he had received.

The reason he gave for refusing to identify the two ambassadors and the security officials was that he was not sure whether he could reveal this, saying: I’m not sure if I can reveal all of these,” adding that the information was not relayed to the Philippines officially.

So why get irked when foreign governments do not inform the Philippine government when they issue travel advisories against this country, but at the same time, he bares an alleged assassination plot on two foreign ambassadors, along with several security officers, evidently, without giving these foreign nationals the information, as this he said, was not transmitted officially.... MORE

11/06/2010
Irked by at least six foreign government’s travel advisory against the Philippines, Noynoy slammed these warnings, saying that these foreign governments had not bothered to inform the Philippine government about such threats and that the intelligence reports he gets from his security officials say there are no serious threats, and that all reports are raw and unverified.

In almost the same breath, however, Noynoy bared that there are assassination plots against two foreign ambassadors, along with several security officers, all of whom, however, remained unnamed. He said this is based on reports he had received.

The reason he gave for refusing to identify the two ambassadors and the security officials was that he was not sure whether he could reveal this, saying: I’m not sure if I can reveal all of these,” adding that the information was not relayed to the Philippines officially.

So why get irked when foreign governments do not inform the Philippine government when they issue travel advisories against this country, but at the same time, he bares an alleged assassination plot on two foreign ambassadors, along with several security officers, evidently, without giving these foreign nationals the information, as this he said, was not transmitted officially..... MORE

11/06/2010
ADEN — Yemen, which charged radical US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi this week with incitement to kill foreigners and with links to al-Qaeda, is trying to mobilize his Awaliq tribe in Shabwa province.

Tribal dignitaries who are close to the government met Awaliq leaders in October to convince them to combat the local arm of Osama bin Laden’s extremist network, a tribal source told AFP.

“We concluded an agreement with the leaders of the tribe by which they would support the government against al-Qaeda,” said Mahdi Abdessalam al-Awlaqi, a member of parliament with the ruling General People’s Congress, who was part of the delegation from Sanaa.

The central government supplied ammunition to a 1,000-man force from the tribe and in October gave them their first mission — to sweep an arid mountain region in the tribe’s home area of Shabwa for al-Qaeda elements.

In reaction, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the local al-Qaeda franchise, called in a communique on Islamist Web sites for the tribe’s members to refuse to “cooperate with the Yemeni government.”.... MORE

Published on November 6, 2010 After experiencing heavy deployment of AFP troops, the peasants of Hacienda Luisita are bracing for the entry of US troops who would be conducting ‘trainings’ inside the hacienda. By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO

Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Residents of Hacienda Luisita first noticed the presence of US troops in the hacienda sometime in September 2010. Since then, news have been circulating that a three-story building would be constructed within the hacienda purportedly to serve as evacuation and health center. Peasant leaders find this suspicious.

“This is definitely a plan of the U.S.-Cojuanco-Aquino regime to crush the so-called insurgency in our province,” United Luisita Workers’ Union acting president Lito Bais told Bulatlat. He added that the issues affecting the hacienda are but an agrarian dispute, which has been going on for more than half a century already.

Hacienda Luisita is a 6,453 real property, co-owned by President Benigno S. Aquino III and the Cojuangco clan that has been going through an agrarian dispute for more than half a century already. The Presidential Agrarian Reform Committee ruled in 2005 to distribute the land to the peasants. The Cojuanco-Aquino family, however, filed a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the distribution of the land before the Supreme Court, which was granted in 2006. The high court has yet to decide on the issue even as a TRO is supposedly effective for only 20 days.

U.S. soldiers arrived sometime in September 2010 in Barangay (village) Bantog and asked Greg Gardanoso, a village official, who the barangay captain was. Since then, residents have been hearing of a plan by US troops to construct an evacuation center in the hacienda. Bais, however, sees these seemingly humanitarian services as a “front act” to their real agenda: the conduct of Balikatan military exercises.

Balikatan Exercises in the Hacienda

Balikatan, which literally means “shoulder-to-shoulder,” is an annual joint military exercise being conducted by Philippine and U.S. Armed Forces. These exercises are being held by virtue of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). Despite the strong clamor from progressive groups for the junking of the VFA, as well as the MDT, President Aquino has not acted on it..... MORE

Published on November 6, 2010 Fidel Agcaoili said the National Democratic Front of the Philippines is now contemplating on inviting new GRP peace panel chair AlexPadilla to a one-on-one meeting in Hongkong to clarify whether the current Aquino government accepts the validity of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and can ensure the safe and trouble-free visit of the Jalandoni couple in Manila. By RONALYN V. OLEABulatlat.com
MANILA – Hopes for the resumption of the peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) brightened after the Aquino government reconstituted its five-member panel for the peace negotiations with the NDFP to include two human rights lawyers. But a few days after, the talks hit a snag again.

?In an interview through email, Luis Jalandoni, chairman of the NDFP peace panel, said he and Coni Ledesma, member of the negotiating panel are planning to visit the Philippines on December 1. “The plan is to have informal talks then in order to pave the way for the resumption of formal peace talks in Oslo in January or February of next year.”

But Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said early this week that “it will be better for the NDF to visit the Palace with a signed peace agreement.” Peace Adviser Teresita Quintos-Deles also said “the President could not be expected to comment” on the proposed visit.

In reaction, NDFP panel member Fidel Agcaoili said in a statement the NDFP is reconsidering the visit of Jalandoni to Manila in December “in view of the negative attitude of GRP President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, Jr. to the proposed courtesy call..... MORE

Published on November 6, 2010 Many labor and partylist groups in the country view the labor department’s approval of PAL management’s outsourcing and retrenchment plan as a go-signal as well for an even more intensified contractualization of employment arrangements all over the country.By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.comRelated Story:PAL A Flag-Carrier of Unprecedented Anti-Labor Rulings?
MANILA— “A con and a ruse”— that is how the progressive labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) called the Aquino regime’s proffered ‘legal redress’ to workers of Philippine Airlines (PAL). Mass lay-offs and lower-paying, insecure contractual work now await some 3,000 longtime workers as the labor department has given PAL management the go-signal to implement the airline’s outsourcing plans.

Many labor and partylist groups in the country view the labor department’s approval of PAL management’s outsourcing and retrenchment plan as a go-signal as well for an even more intensified contractualization of employment arrangements all over the country.

“To oppose this (mass lay-off) we hope our fellow unionists in PALEA would not allow themselves to be fooled into mainly relying on legal redress. This can take years and years and can easily be manipulated by the wealthy and influential PAL owner Lucio Tan,” Joselito Ustarez, vice-president of KMU, said in Filipino in a press conference Wednesday. He reiterated the labor center’s hope that PALEA would see that the way to resist this “flagrant attack on their rights to job security and living wage is through stronger mass actions.”

Interminable, Fruitless Legal Redress
PAL employees are not new to seeking legal redress. Flight attendants, for example, have bitterly learned that legal redress can take more than ten years, as theirs did before they won it in the Supreme Court. And yet, until now, 12 years later, the fruits of this legal battle are still out of their reach.

Implementation of the two Supreme Court decisions, one issued in 2008 and another in 2009, in favor of 1,400 illegally dismissed flight attendants, are still being snagged by yet another appeal from PAL management, said Andy Ortega, vice-president of PAL Flight Attendants and Stewards’ Union (FASAP)..... MORE

Published on November 6, 2010 Under the plan approved by the Department of Labor and Employment, PAL would outsource the in-flight catering, call center reservations and airport services (passenger, cargo and ramp handling) departments to “third-party providers” , eVentus PLDT and Skylogistics, two of which, employees revealed are Lucio Tan dummies if not directly under his group’s Macro Asia.By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.comRelated Story:Strong Mass Actions, Not Just Legal Redress, Urged vs Labor Rights Violations in PAL
In 1998, PAL retrenched some 5,000 employees. Among those retrenched were 1,400 flight attendants who believed they were dismissed for having availed of maternity leaves. The PAL management, for its part, had cited other reasons for sacking them.

Amid an ambitious re-fleeting program, PAL in 1998 was complaining of losses and threatening the country that it would close the flag carrier. These complaints of “losses” had prompted the Philippine government to intervene and help PAL with a rehabilitation plan, in the process committing many anti-labor acts.

This rehab caused the wholesale dismissal of PAL pilots and union-busting of the pilot’s union. It gave rise also to the unprecedented 10-year CBA moratorium for those that remained in PAL’s employ after the massive retrenchment.

Now that these are over – both the rehab and the CBA moratorium – and PAL has been able to fully pay all its loan-purchased aircraft, both FASAP and PALEA, the remaining unions of cabin and ground crew, are decrying the mass lay-off and contractualization awaiting some 3,000 long-time ground crew.

Published on November 3, 2010
“Today, as the whole nation remembers the lives of the departed, we commemorate the missing. We light a candle not for their souls to rest in peace but to shed light on their way home. We offer flowers not because we believe they are no longer with us but because they are deeply missed,” Mary Guy “Ghay” Portajada, daughter of a missing labor leader, said.

Saulo, then organizer of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) in Pandacan, was abducted on Oct. 6, 1988 at a public market in Lucena City. He remains missing to this day.

“It has been four years since he went missing. People are asking me if I am still hoping that he is still alive. If you were in my shoes, would you not hope?”Romy Ancheta, brother of Leopoldo Ancheta, says. (Photo by Ronalyn V. Olea/ bulatlat.com)

Life has never been easy after Saulo disappeared. Lydia did all kinds of odd jobs just to feed her four children. At 16, her eldest daughter Lorena went to Japan and worked as the lead singer of a band to support her siblings.

Every November 2, Lydia joins other families of the disappeared in a gathering at the Redemptorist Church in Baclaran. Together, they light candles, offer flowers and say prayers for their missing loved ones. The Catholic congregation also lost Fr. Rudy Romano who was abducted 25 years ago and remains missing to this day.

“Where do we light candles and offer flowers? We do not even know if they are still alive,” Romy Ancheta, brother of missing consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Leopoldo Ancheta, said.

Ancheta was reportedly abducted by unidentified men believed to be military intelligence agents on June 24, 2006 in Barangay (village) Tuktukan, Guiguinto town in the province of Bulacan.
“It has been four years since he went missing. People are asking me if I am still hoping that he is still alive. If you were in my shoes, would you not hope?” Romy said in a trembling voice..... MORE

11/06/2010
Western governments were wrong in warning of an imminent terrorist attack in Manila, said President Aquino, with the Philippine government downplaying the arrests of five men and the seizure of explosives, and even after Aquino himself bared to reporters plots to assassinate two foreign ambassadors and several security officials.

Aquino and his government sought to have the foreign governments lift their warnings of a terror threat in the country, including Metro Manila, but the foreign governments stood pat on their travel advisories to their citizens, while France became the sixth country to warn its citizens of the supposed threat.

Aquino said his government would again convey its belief that there was not sufficient evidence to back up the warnings.

“We will communicate the same with France... in the most diplomatic way possible that there is an urgent request from our country not to be inflicted this harm if the basis isn’t that concrete,” Aquino told reporters.

The United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand issued travel advisories this week warning an attack may occur at any time in the Philippine capital, and that areas frequented by foreigners were potential targets..... MORE

First he announces on television that there are plans to get current Department of Local Government and Interior Secretary out of his post soon and transfer him to another agency that would concentrate on the problems of the urban poor and informal settlers.

Now he says there won’t be Cabinet changes anytime soon and that his statement made to the TV new program aired live Thursday was “misunderstood.”

Aquino yesterday clarified that he is not mulling a Cabinet revamp anytime soon, claiming that the disclosures he made in a television interview Thursday on plans he has for Secretaries Ramon Paje (Environment and Natural Resources) and Jesse Robredo (Interior and Local Government) were just “misunderstood.”

Aquino, in an exclusive interview with ABS-CBN, said that Paje stays in his post for a year while there are plans to have Robredo transferred to another agency where his expertise in resolving the problem of the country’s informal settlers can be put to use..... MORE

Heavy rains in Northern Luzon areas have left nine persons dead and forced thousands of others to flee their homes, authorities yesterday said.

Flooding and landslides over the past three days sent close to 70,000 people from their homes in Isabela and Cagayan provinces, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said.

There has been no focus on the damage the rains are wreaking in those provinces, however.

At press time yesterday, NDRRMC executive director and Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) Administrator retired Maj. Gen. Benito Ramos said a total of 13,661 families, composed of 68,641 people from 23
municipalities and one city in Northern Luzon, were affected by landslides and massive flooding in the region..... MORE

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 11/06/2010
President Aquino yesterday told reporters that he does not have to reply to the suit filed by a petitioner questioning the constitutionality of Executive Order 7 which seeks a suspension of big salaries, bonuses and perks enjoyed by the executives of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCC) and Government Financial Institutions (GFI), pointing out that he enjoys immunity from suit as President of the Republic.

He invoked his immunity when he was asked to comment on the order issued by the Supreme Court (SC), which has ordered Malacañang to defend its side on a petition challenging EO7, which calls for the suspension of all allowances, bonuses and incentives of officials of GOCC and GFIs.

The SC’s two-page resolution dated Nov. 3, gave Aquino and other respondents Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad 10 days to submit their comments on the suit filed by lawyer Jelbert Galicto last month..... MORE

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 11/06/2010
The Department of Justice (DoJ) has summoned Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Ricardo David Jr. to its reinvestigation of the Glorietta 2 blast in Makati City that killed 11 persons and wounded over 100 others in 2007.

Notices were also issued to other law enforcement officials and officials of Ayala Corp. and its real estate arm Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) to a hearing set on Nov. 18.

The memorandum dated Nov. 5 was signed by the three-man panel composed of Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong, Assistant State Prosecutor Gino Paolo Santiago and Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Miguel Gudio Jr.

On Jan. 22, 2008, former Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez cleared ALI of liability in the 2007 Glorietta explosion, but stated that Ayala Property Management Inc. (APMC) is still under investigation into what the investigators then said was an accidental explosion coming from gas leaks..... MORE

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 11/06/2010
Another Filipina was arrested early this week by Chinese authorities for attempting to smuggle pro-hibited drugs into China’s Guangzhou province, a consulate report yesterday said.

“The said Filipina was found to be carrying 1,996 grams of heroin concealed in a foil packet hidden under her checked-in suitcase,” the Philippine Consulate in Guanzhou said.

This unfortunate incident still happened despite the successive warnings issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and various Philippine diplomatic posts on the plight of Filipinos who have been meted the death penalty for drug-smuggling.

According to the consulate, the arrested Filipina used to work as a school teacher in Guangdong province and was even granted an alien employment permit by the Chinese government..... MORE

By Gerry Baldo 11/06/2010
The Catholic Church yesterday joined lawmakers and other militant groups in criticizing the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) for allowing the mass lay off of some 2,600 employees of the Philippine Airlines (PAL).

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said he is “disappointed” by the government’s decision.
Pabillo said the recent decision of DoLE will deprive the workers the just share of the fruits of their labor.

“This clearly shows that the policy of the present administration is to favor the capitalists than the ordinary workers,” he said. Pabillo chairman of the National Secretariat for Social Action- Justice and Peace (Nassa), the social action arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño called on the House to immediately investigate the first major labor dispute under the Aquino administration and avert the impending lose of 3,000 jobs. Casiño said that the DoLE decision is setting a precedent for other labor intensive companies to undermine workers unions and promote contractualization..... MORE